The Hills Hit Houston-- bonus post!

Although I've already written about the amazing weekend we spent with our Louisiana family... there is a HUGE part that I left out. And I've finally been given permission to share it now.

When everyone arrived PD let me know that he'd brought a newspaper with him so I could have the coupons (I'm desperately trying to become a couponer, thanks to the help of the "couponmom.com"). I thanked him and kept preparing dinner... no need to interrupt my rolled steak for a free tube of toothpaste!

Later, we sat down for dinner and PD informed me that Minnie Mouse had been kidnapped from Disney World. I was shocked! How could that happen? Where was the character handler? PD said there was a huge article in the newspaper and Justin kindly brought me the newspaper to read. Well, we were in the middle of dinner so I thanked him and left the paper folded on the table. I wasn't going to interrupt dinner for a Minnie Mouse story!

A few minutes later PD mentioned that LSU football was in trouble and there was an article explaining the situation in the newspaper. Chris, immediatly grabbed the newspaper to read the story. I guess LSU football is worth the interruption!

As soon as Chris opened the paper, he saw this:

!!!!!!!

He turned to me and said, "you might want to see this."

I knew I wasn't pregnant... I knew Johanna had already told us she was pregnant... and I knew that Laura had been drinking beers all night! So... what was going on?!

I dutifully turned to page 4A where I saw this:

A closer look at the sonogram shows that this is Laura and Justin's baby!!!!

I was so happy that I created this delightful face:

And hugged the new mom:

Turned out Justin was drinking beers all night and refilling the bottles with water for Laura. What? I was foiled again! I told the group that I wasn't a good Sherlock Holmes and PD quipped I wasn't even a good Watson! Touche.

Laura and Justin had woken up early that morning and put this special newspaper on PD's front lawn. That's how he found out. Later, on the car ride over to Houston, they had shared the newspaper with Jeremy and Johanna:

Laura and Johanna's babies will be about two months apart. Chris and I are SO excited to meet another niece or nephew in January! And we're especially delighted for Justin and Laura who will be amazing parents.

I'm sure it will be a house full of creativity, learning and laughter:

Hills Hit Houston Part Three

The Hills left Houston on Sunday... which also happened to be Father's Day!

Chris and I are SO blessed to each have wonderful Fathers who love their kids and love who their kids love (follow that?). We wanted to give them a fun experience so on Sunday morning the boys took PD and my Dad to an old timey barber shop for "The Works". This included a hair cut, a straight razor shave and about a million towels.

Here's my dad getting ready for the experience:

When they all walked in, the barber shop attendants looked a little nervous. Remember Justin and Jeremy?

That's a lot of hair! They breathed a little easier when they found out it was just PD and my dad that were to be attended to.

Here's PD getting ready, with Justin in the foreground:

And here's what the dads looked like mid-session:

As the boys were on their outing, the ladies stayed back and prepared brunch. And we all enjoyed it at my parent's house.

My Houston family:

And my Louisiana family:

It was such a fun weekend bonding with the family-- we look forward to spending more time with the Louisiana Krewe soon!

Monday morning came early and I felt really bad for the guys that pick up our recycling:

After a full weekend of entertaining we had a lot of empty bottles and containers for them to collect!

The Hills Hit Houston Part Two

On Saturday evening, we took the Baton Rouge Hills (and Couvillions) to a Houston tradition:

Miller Outdoor Theater!

I've been going to these free performances since I was a very young child. There is a large theater with covered seating and a larger hill for picnic goers. Although I've been to Miller countless times, I think I've only sat in the covered area twice. It's just so much more fun to lounge and enjoy the performance from the hill.

We had our picnic basket full of snacks and wine... but my dad made one last important addition:

You can't have a picnic without watermelon, right? Except there was one problem: my dad didn't bring a knife! Thankfully PD had a Swiss Army knife and somehow my dad was able to get the watermelon open!

It is was a good thing because everyone enjoyed it:

Especially Justin:

Miller Outdoor Theater plays host to a variety of performance arts and this night it was hosting the Houston symphony.

We all enjoyed our time on the hill and I was so happy to share this part of Houston with my Louisiana in-laws.

One last cute tidbit: Chris and I met the summer of 2007 and many of our early dates included Miller Outdoor Theater.

Here we are on the hill on one of our very early dates:

And here we are in 2011 on the same hill:

I'm sure there will many more memories made (and photos taken) by us at Miller Outdoor Theater!

Houston's Beer Fest

Aaaaaand we're back. Sorry for the break (my mom's been dropping hints like crazy!). 

My friend Ashley is a bundle of energy.

She is constantly finding new and interesting things to do in Houston. Like a few weekends ago... when she invited a group to try out the Houston Beer Fest.

Beer Fest is on the lawn in front of the mayor's office which made for a very interesting scene!

Yep. That's a guy swimming in the fountain in front of the mayor's office.

And those ladies are playing volleyball in the same fountain.

We were a bit more low-key about the fountain, but still had a great time!

And even though the heat and crazy crowds ensured that this will be my only time at Houston's Beer Fest... it was still worth the Saturday afternoon to enjoy some time with great friends and superb people watching.

Turtle Racing

For over a year I've been getting weekly text messages from my friend Heather. They come every Thursday afternoon and invite me to "turtle races".

Every week I want to go but something or another always seems to be in the way. That is, until this past Thursday. When I finally got to see some turtles race!

There is an area set up that the crowd encircles. A DJ picks a volunteer from the crowd who stands in the middle of the circle:

That white bucket has no bottom. And inside are 8 turtles. When the countdown reaches zero, the turtles are given a taste of freedom!

They race to the outer circle while the crowd cheers for their favorites!

The first turtle to reach outside the circle is the winner!

Sound simple? Maybe even a little dumb? It's not. Don't believe me? Then you need to get out to Midtown next Thursday for the event. The energy is electric and the turtles are adorable! And don't worry, I've been assured they are well taken care of with pre-race pep talks and post-race massages.

Houston Museum of Natural Science

About once a week you'll find me at Houston's Museum of Natural Science. As a part of my Junior League duties, I am a docent at the HMNS. On my scheduled days I give museum tours to 4th graders. I wasn't great at science in school. But, with this volunteer duty, I don't have to know everything about science... I just have to know more than a 4th grader! And I usually do.

I've been seeing this poster outside of the elevator every time I go up there to volunteer:

I love the tag at the top, "Find out why you're so dang proud."

This is advertizing a special exhibit that is only being shown for a limited time. Because this exhibit costs more than regular admission, I am not able to take the 4th graders through it. But, I'm a proud Texan, dag-nabit, so I spent some time exploring the exhibit after my duties last Friday.

This is a replica of a ship:

I don't remember which ship, though. (Oops.)

I saw a replica of my favorite Texas flag:

Then, I turned and saw what I thought was a replica of a cannon:

But then I read the little plaque that informed me it's the real deal. Amazing!

I only had about 45 minutes, so I didn't get to explore every corner of the exhibit, but I felt it was very well done and hope to go back and learn more about my Texan heritage!